The 92 Ranger I would have bought...

[e21pilot]

OK, I've got the big C-clamp and will find some old pipes of the right diameter so I can push the bushing right out of arm with the C-clamp.

I was thinking of using 7/16 grade 8 bolts for the radius arm bracket but I will look into 1/2" ones.

Spoke to an old timer in the alignment shop. He suggested Moog thermo plastic bushings for the radius arms and sway bars but OE style rubber busing for the axle pivot bushings for a stock factory ride with no squeaks and no maintenance.

Thanks again for the tips!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

7/16 bolts should fit the rivet holes just fine. I drill mine out to 1/2 because I've found quite often that the holes are in fact 1/2". Plus I also had a couple boxes of 1/2" grade 8 laying around here when I first started working on trucks and at the time I could get a box of 50 for around $5. Wish I would have bought more at that price.....

 

[e21pilot]

After a quick tune up and replacing the fuel filler neck on the gas tank, I took the Ranger in for the dreaded California Smog test. At 244K miles, the smog tech figured it would fail for sure but lucky for me it passed!

Looking at the results, HC and CO readings were lower than average and well below the max values which is good.

However, NOx was well above average and not that far below the max readings eithers and I wonder if I may have a problem two years down the road when I smog it again.

I noted that the engine was running not much above 'C' during the test which is where it normally runs probably because it has the super cooling option and 4.0 V6 engines don't tend to run too hot in my experience. High NOx readings can occur because of high engine temps but not really sure why they might be occurring at normal engine temps.

Any suggestions on what I might look at to get the NOx down? I have lots of time now to deal with this but I don't want to forget about it either as it seems time goes by quickly between smog tests!

 

[e21pilot]

btw -- I snapped a pic of the new and original fuel filler hose just for comparison. From the size difference, it looks like the original pipe simply shrank and cracked as a result. Note that the new pipe on the bottom is direct from the Ford dealer and not a generic aftermarket part.